What trolling setup do you use?

[jigginfool]

Just to make it easier on us rookies who are looking to venture into trolling more,let's see what setup everybody uses. Just post planer boards,divers,etc. all info greatly appreciated. Accidentally posted on an old post

[Dr.Ed]

Church Walleye side planer boards run in pairs off each side about 6 feet apart out 85'-100" at 1.6-2.2 mph. In the western basin, 40 Jet Divers back 36"-54". 6 foot 20 lb. Trilene XT mono leaders to Scorpion Stinger spoons. For variety I will sometimes run 30 Jets back over 100". This worked well yesterday with Flo Nascar. If the eyes are looking for meat, I will run "0" Dipseys at a 2 or 3 setting back 45'-75' with homemade harnesses usually with Colorado blades and always a No. 6 Eagle Claw stinger treble hook which catches 75% of my fish. Need more, just ask. FYI: In four days last week two close friends and I boated 70 walleye with the above presentation.

[Eyezcrazy]

Church TX22 boards with Tru Trip 40 divers and Okuma line counter reels with 30 lb Power Pro braid line and a 6 ft mono leader in17 lb.

[wayne johnson]

Reel sport set up, ugly stick rods, okuma counter reels, 30 lb power pro, 6 ft leaders off 40 true trip jets 30 lb ande leader
line Skipper 9 Custom Big Boards, all spoons Capt Mike

[wakina]

I run the Church Tackle TX-22 boards and the Church Tackle Walleye Boards but only if I need a couple of extra lines in the water. I added 2 of the stern planers from Church Tackle this year and so far have really liked them. I run all of the planers with the TT-40 divers. I run the Shimano Tekota 300lc reels on 4 rods, and 2 Okuma Coldwater CW-153D reels on 2 rods. I also have 2 Diawa accu-depth reels in the 17 size if I need the extra rods.

Line is either Tuf-line XP or Jerry Brown, both are braid in either 30 or 40lb test, line color is green, yellow, red and blue, I actually have all 4 colors on my various reels. I buy it when it is on sale as color makes no difference to me or the walleyes.

Honeywell owns the patent on the spectra fiber and Western Filament who makes Tuf-line was one of first to make it into fishing line. I prefer the Tuf-line XP or Jerry Brown line as it is more round than Power Pro line and packs on the reel better without cutting into the spool. Let me make myself clear that I feel Power Pro is a very good line and that the only reason I do not use it is to flat in my opinion.

Leader material is 20lb Fireline Crystal. I start fishing worm harnesses at the tail end of the spawn when the water temps are in the mid to upper 40's. Then start adding spoons when temps reach the low to mid 50's. I do pull crank baits from time to time but they are always the Rapala J-7, J-9 or Wordens flatfish.

[walleye2go]

Big boards, 7' ML Okuma Deadeye rods, Okuma linecounters with 30lb power pro, dipseys on 8' M Okuma GLT's. I'll run anything I have to to catch fish, but my favorite is running 800 Reefs. Lately 40 tru trips with spoons or harnesses have been filling the cooler. On the big boards, the jets are much better than weights. I am fortunate to be a part of a great network, but as a rule when you start trolling, don't set down and fish without good marks, make copies of driving charts and use them. I usually will try to start out running 5' above the marks but stagger lures and make sure to set a couple in the top 10 to 12 feet of the water column. Make friends with some of the trollers on here, I wouldn't have learned half of what I know without Skipper9, BADKARMA, Somethin Fishy, and Spoonfeeder.

Greg

[jigginfool]

I'm new to the trolling myself and still learning what I need to get started.does anybody use any of the offshore planer boards? If so would would a tt40 work with this planer. I've heard guys say can't read the board much with these divers.any input?

[wakina]

I'm new to the trolling myself and still learning what I need to get started.does anybody use any of the offshore planer boards? If so would would a tt40 work with this planer. I've heard guys say can't read the board much with these divers.any input?

Offshore boards work the same as the Church boards, they just attach to your line in different ways. They may or may not be able to pull as much weight as the Church Boards but there are experienced fishermen who swear they use them effectively with the TT-40's. I say if they stay afloat and move in a direction away from the boat and to the sides and not straight behind then they are doing the job as intended.

As far as reading boards there should be a difference in how they appear in the spread of boards be it 2 or 3 as even a small fish will make the board pull harder and that board will fall back some maybe no more than a foot or so. But that will indicated that you have something causing that board to pull harder and it is time to check it. The boards will form a some what straight line that V's away from the boat to the side and to the back with the boat being the bottom of the V and the boards will be in an almost straight line on the wings of that V. The more wt. that they are pulling will cause the top of the V to be narrower and less wt. will allow it to widen out. If one of the boards fall out of that V then check it.

If the TT-40 has tripped then the board should pull altogether different than when the TT-40 is still set. Reading the board comes with the experience of using them and you will pick that up rather fast. If you happen to be looking at the board when it gets hit you will definitely see it be jerked backwards in a back and forth motion, it is unmistakable. Just think big bobber and that is how they act.

The hard part is when you get a fish that swims along for the ride and keeps just enough tension on the board to make it ride normal in the spread, there will still be slight differences in how they are pulling.

If you are using just one board on a side then by using the same rod holder for the board rod on their respective sides of the boat will allow you to use a part of the boat to determine if that board is pulling harder or easier than normal, I use the back corners in relation to where the board is pulling while fishing on my boat and if that changes even a little then it is time to check that board.

Like I said before, experience will become the best tool for you to be able to read the boards with reasonable accuracy.

[jigginfool]

Thanks a lot guys for the posts I can use all the help I can get lol

[sherman51]

I fish the central basin of erie in the summer months. I run 3 lite bite slide divers per side. were only allowed 2 rods per fisherman, if I have more than 3 people onboard I run 2 outriggers with 15# braid and a small dipsy and let them out anywhere from 250' to 300' then if I have a 5th person on board I run 2 downriggers.

early in the season before the thermocline sets up good I target the fish im marking on the bottom. once we have a good thermocline I target the fish im marking just above the thermocline. I put my divers down about 5' to 10' above the fish.

on my divers I run 65# power pro for my main line then use about a 9' fluro leader. I don't use the slide part of the diver but use them like a dipsy and use the lite bite trigger. I went out to 50' of water and run 1.8 to 2.0 and let out line on a 4.5 setting on my diver until I started bumping bottom. it took 185' of line out to hit bottom. that comes out to 2.7' dive for every 10' of line out. so with this set up I just go by the 2.7' for every 10' of line out as my dive curve. then I run this rod in front then set my middle diver on a 3 setting and let it out 20' less than the front rod, then I set my back diver on a 1.5 setting and let it out 20' less than my middle rod.

so if I want to fish 60' I set my 4.5 diver at 220' out which gives me 59.4 feet depth, then I set my 3 diver at 200' out and my 1.5 diver at 180'. this dive curve wont work with say 30# braid because you get a steeper dive curve with lighter line.

if your using dipsy,s then you would use a 1.5 and a 2.5 and a 3.5 setting. go out to 50' of water and let the 3.5 diver out until it starts bumping bottom. then just devide 50' by however many 10' of line you have let out. say it takes 160' of line out to hit bottom then you would devide 50' by 16 that would give you a 3.1 dive curve. so I would just use the 3 as my dive curve. if it takes a 145' of line out to hit bottom then you would devide 50' by 14.5 which would give you a 3.448 dive curve then I would round it off to a 3.5 dive curve. then just use the front rod to get to the depth you want and run the middle rod out 20' less than the front rod and the back rod out 20' less than your middle rod.

if your planning on running dipsy,s or the deeper diver or even the lite bite slide diver I hope this has helped and not just confused you.